Something more traditional, for Junior at Chicken Spaghetti

For Susan‘s son Junior, who has the good taste and good timing to wonder about that neighbour to the north.

It’s not Canada without:

Sam’s cousin, John Steele, RCMP action figure — as of 2009, apparently not as easy to come by.  How about action figures of Sirs John A. MacDonald, Isaac Brock, and Wilfred Laurier instead?

The RCMP Musical Ride by Maxwell Newhouse

The Maple Syrup Book by Marilyn Linton

At Grandpa’s Sugar Bush by Margaret Carney, illustrated Janet Wilson

Your own 5-foot tall, glow in the dark 3D CN Tower puzzle ((as of 2009, also no longer available…)

Canadian Geographic Kids’ puzzle map of Canada

Canadian poetry and art for children:

Eenie Meenie Manitoba: Playful Poems and Rollicking Rhymes and See Saw Saskatchewan by poet Robert Heidbreder

Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee

In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by Linda Granfield; picture book version of John McCrae’s famous World War I poem

Til All the Stars Have Fallen: Canadian Poems for Children, edited by David Booth

Voices on the Wind: Poems for all Seasons, edited by David Booth

Images of Nature: Canadian Poets and the Group of Seven, edited by David Booth; an amazing book of Canadian poetry and Canadian art, from the Group of Seven, selected for children

A First Book of Canadian Art by Richard Rhodes

Canadian classic picture books, deservedly so:

The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier; a Canadian classic

A Happy New Year’s Day by Roch Carrier; his autobiographical picture book about the festivities in rural Quebec

A Northern Nativity: Christmas Dreams of a Prairie Boy by William Kurelek; also by Kurelek: A Prairie Boy’s Winter and A Prairie Boy’s Summer

O Canada and Children of the Yukon by Ted Harrison

Robert Service’s poems, with illustrations by Harrison: The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dan McGrew

Some of our other favourite Canadian picture books:

Cinderella Penguin: The Little Glass Flipper by Janet Perlman; also by Perlman and very, very funny, The Emperor Penguin’s New Clothes and The Penguin and the Pea

Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman

Where Does a Tiger-Heron Spend the Night? by Margaret Carney

Emma and the Silk Train by Julie Lawson

Come to the Fair by Janet Lunn

Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt by Janet Wilson

The Prairie Fire by Marilynn Reynolds

The Night the Stars Flew by Jo Ellen Bogart

The White Stone in the Castle Wall by Sheldon Oberman, about Toronto’s own castle, Casa Loma

Canadian ABCs and 123s:

M Is For Maple: A Canadian Alphabet by Michael Ulmer

Eh? to Zed: A Canada Abecedarium by Kevin Major

ABC of Canada by Kim Bellefontaine

Z is for Zamboni: A Hockey Alphabet by Matthew Napier; also by Napier, Hat Tricks Count: A Hockey Number Book

A Northern Alphabet by Ted Harrison

A Prairie Alphabet by Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet with illustrations by Yvette Moore

Canadian history and geography:

Here is the Canadian history post I wrote last fall

A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 by Barbara Greenwood

A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841 by Barbara Greenwood

A Pioneer Christmas: Celebrating in the Backwoods in 1841 by Barbara Greenwood

Gold Rush Fever: A Story of the Klondike, 1898 by Barbara Greenwood

The Kids Book of Canada by Barbara Greenwood

The Kids Book of Canadian History by Carlotta Hacker

Kids Book of Canadian Exploration by Ann-Maureen Owens

The Kids Book of Canada’s Railway: And How the CPR Was Built by Deborah Hodge

The Kids Book of Great Canadians by Elizabeth McLeod

The Kids Book of Canadian Firsts by Valerie Wyatt

Forts of Canada by Ann-Maureen Owens

The Story of Canada by Janet Lunn; beautifully illustrated narrative history book; available new only in paperback, worth tracking down secondhand in hardcover

The Spirit of Canada: Canada’s Story in Legends, Fiction, Poems, and Songs, edited by Barbara Hehner; out of print but worth tracking down at your library or secondhand

Odds and ends:

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre

Margaret Atwood writes for kids

Mordecai Richler writes for kids

Proud Canadian Kids website, created by a Kindergarten teacher in Stratford, Ontario; with a special link for K-Grade 2 sites